Spanish website AS has offered Manchester United fans very realistic hope that Gerard Pique could be on his way back to Old Trafford in the near future.

The idea of Pique’s potential return to United has been created by Luis Enrique’s failure to use the Spaniard consistently in his first team this season, with AS suggesting the current boss is effectively ignoring the experienced centre-back.

“Gerard Piqué has work to do to get back to being irreplaceable at Barça. With a clear idea of what he wants and resolute in his decisions Luis Enrique continues to mostly ignore the defender who many supposed would be involved week in, week out for his past performances,” reports AS.

United did some very good business in the summer transfer window where they flexed their financial muscles in terms of fees and wages.

Angel Di Maria arrived in a deal worth just under £60 million from Real Madrid, while Louis van Gaal also drafted in Radamel Falcao who is thought to be on higher wages than Wayne Rooney, who earns £300,000 per week.

However, one of the positions van Gaal wasn’t able to bring someone in was at centre-back.

That’s prompted him to look at United’s younger options in the middle of his defence but the inexperience has shown at times, especially in the defeats at the MK Dons in the League Cup and away at Leicester City in the Premier League.

What Pique would add to this United defence would be experience and the mentality of a player who has got very used to winning.

He’s featured in just four games this season across La Liga and the Champions League, which is remarkable considering he’s been an accepted part of the Barcelona defence since he joined them after originally leaving United.

If those appearance numbers don’t improve, and there’s nothing to suggest they will, Pique could be a very unhappy man by January and United can take advantage.

Lewis Doe

Lewis Doe is a freelance writer and editor who seeks to bring you the biggest, smallest and most interesting stories from the football world. Lewis has previously written for some of the biggest football news and opinion sites in the world including FootballFanCast and Goal.com International. Lewis is also experienced writing in the betting industry and aims to deliver his stories with up to date factual and statistical information. He hopes to sum up stories for the site and provide an angle on the issue moving forward.Lewis is HITC Sport's La Liga correspondent.